Okay, I know I said Friday... but it was done and I thought 'what the heck.' So here you go. I have lots of acknowledgments and thank yous to make, but I'll save those for the end...
So without further delay...
Table of Contents Okay, maybe just a little delay... so you remember where we left off.
From Part 8:
Clark pressed forward, opening the door and walking inside... into a... wine cellar? What in the world? Could it get any more bizarre? He looked down into the room to find Lois dressed in a bright red party dress, holding a glass of wine.
Yes, it could definitely get more bizarre.
“Lois?”
“Hi, Superman,” she said casually, almost distantly. “Care to join me for a drink? To celebrate my marriage to Lex?”
Clark had started walking down the stairs. Her announcement brought him to a halt. “Lois? What are you talking about?”
She smiled up at him. “My engagement. Lex and I were just about to toast to it.”
“Hello, my dear,” Luthor said, coming through the door behind Clark. “Do you have our gift for Superman?”
Lois’s eyes lit up. “Oh, yes. Yes, I do.” She came walking towards Clark as he began descending the stairs once more.
The pain hit Clark in a searing wave. His legs gave out beneath him and he stumbled down the last few stairs, sinking to his knees at the bottom.
Kryptonite.
**********
PART NINE - FINAL
**********
Clark was in pain. Lois could see it in his face, hear it in his voice as he pleaded with her, “Please, Lois, don’t do this. Please, you have to listen to me. You have to fight this.”
She wanted to fight it, but she just couldn’t. As Clark curled into a a ball on the floor in front of her, writhing in pain, she simply stood by, watching helplessly.
He stretched one hand out to her. “Please, Lois. It hurts. God, it hurts. Please help me.”
She wanted to cry, to scream, to do something... anything. But she couldn’t break through the barrier in her mind to make her body respond. In fact, instead of helping him, she felt herself turning away from the man dying in front of her eyes. Then, unable to stop herself, she walked over to another man. An evil monster who was smiling viciously at her.
“Well done, my beautiful...”
Lois woke up with a start, bolting upright into a sitting position, which she quickly regretted when she felt the delayed pain resonate through her brain at the sudden movement. Her head felt like someone had been running a jackhammer inside of it.
It had only been a dream. It wasn’t real.
She cracked one eye open slowly and peered at her surroundings. At first, all she could see was a bright green glow. Where was she?
Then she saw something else; something she couldn’t mistake for anything else.
Red and blue...
“Cla... Superman!” she yelped when she recognized the unmoving body lying a few feet from her... in the opposite corner of the cage that she could now see they were both trapped inside.
She pulled herself up on her hands and knees, doing her best to ignore the renewed protest of pain from her head, and crawled over to Clark.
His body was face down, turned away from her. He wasn’t moving. Was he alive? Maybe it hadn’t been a dream at all...
“Superman,” she called to him softly, reaching out to touch him. Her fingers hovered apprehensively above his shoulder, afraid of what she might find if she turned him over. She took a steadying breath and then grabbed hold of his shoulders and rolled him towards her.
Her breath escaped in a gasp when she saw his face. He was bruised! An ugly purple bruise stained his left cheekbone and continued all the way up to his eyebrow. How? How could he be bruised? Superman didn’t bruise. And yet, there it was – staring her in the face. Had he fallen and hit his face? Had someone hit him?
Had Lex hit him? The thought made her blood boil. If he had, he was going to pay.
She lifted Clark’s head up and laid it in her lap, stroking her fingers across his forehead to smooth away a few strands of hair that had fallen across his eyes.
“Oh, Cla...” she broke off before she could finish his name. She didn’t know if she was being watched so she couldn’t afford to even whisper his name to him. And, yet, it was the only thing she really wanted to say. She wanted to say his name. She wanted to talk to him.
She wanted him to wake up.
“Oh, Superman,” she said instead, caressing his forehead softly with her fingertips. “What has he done to you? I’m so sorry.” She leaned down awkwardly and tried to hug him against her. “Please wake up. Please be okay.”
Lois closed her eyes and tried to concentrate, tried to recall what had happened. She remembered having a conversation with Mrs. Cox about Constance and mind control... and then nothing.
A lump formed in her throat and she opened her eyes to look back down at the man she held in her arms.
What had *Lex* done... no, what had *she* done? Had she been a part of whatever had caused this?
What *had* caused this? Lois scanned the room carefully, finally taking note of what was producing the eerie green glow she had noticed when she first opened her eyes. It was the bars of their cage. They seemed to be practically radiating a green light. Almost like a neon sign or something. What was that all about?
Clark moaned and shifted in her arms. Lois’s breath caught in her chest and she moved her hand down from his hair to pat his cheek softly. “Wake up. We have to get out of here. Wake up, Superman.”
His only response was to moan some more.
“Come on. Wake up!” Lois patted his cheek with a little more force, but it only resulted in more groaning from him. She finally gave his cheek a smart slap.
“Ouch,” he complained in more of a croak than a voice as he cracked one eyelid to look at her. “Lois?”
“Come on, Superman. You have to get up. We have to get out of here,” she explained, attempting to help him up from the hard concrete floor.
“I...” he began as she pulled harder on him.
Lois grunted from the effort, breathing heavily. “You know, you could help me a little. I think you’re just a bit stronger than I am,” she remarked dryly.
Clark winced when he slipped from her struggling arms and hit his head on the concrete beneath him. “Ouch,” he said again, closing his eyes against the barrage of pain that he could now feel so clearly. He almost wished he had hit his head hard enough to slip into blissful oblivion again. At least when he had been unconscious, he couldn’t feel the pain.
If he lived ten lifetimes without ever having an occasion to meet up with Kryptonite again, it wouldn’t be long enough. He still wasn’t exactly sure why a piece of his home planet was so toxic to him.
“Oh, I’m sorry,” Lois apologized, patting his head awkwardly. “But if you would just...”
“I can’t,” he said miserably.
Lois scrunched her face up at him and furrowed her brow. “You can’t... what? Help me? Get up? Or are...”
“It’s Kryptonite,” he explained through gritted teeth before taking a labored breath and then letting out a rasping cough.
“Kryptonite?” Her brow furrowed further. “You mean the stuff that Trask...?” She broke off when he nodded at her. It was real? She didn’t want to believe it. Superman was invincible – nothing could hurt him.
Could it?
“What does it do to you?” she asked, her voice thick with concern.
“It... weakens me... makes me... vulnerable.”
Lois bit at her lip. “Can it...” She hesitated for a second before finally blurting out, “Kill you?”
Clark winced again as he struggled to sit up. The world swirled around him in a vortex of vertigo and he lay back down. “I’m not sure... maybe...”
“Maybe? Maybe!” she exclaimed and then flinched when the shrillness in her voice reverberated through her head, reviving the dull ache that had begun to subside. “Sorry,” she murmured when she realized Clark had the same look of pain on his face that she was feeling. “So where is the Kryptonite? Have you seen it? What does it look like? I mean, if I can get out of this cage, is it something I can get rid of?”
Clark reeled under her barrage of questions and held up one hand as if to halt them. He tried to focus past the pain. He had to help Lois so she could help him – so they could both get out of here alive. “It looks like a chunk of rock,” he explained and watched as Lois began frantically scanning the room for an item with that short description. “But it gives off a green glow...”
“Like the bars of our cage?”
She got up slowly from the floor, steadying herself by hanging onto one of the bars and then she pulled herself closer to take a better look. It was like the bars were infused or impregnated somehow with the odd green glow – almost like a neon sign.
“Do you think the bars are somehow radiating it?” she asked, tearing her eyes from the bars and looking back down at him.
Clark reached out with one hand and brought it close to the bars. The pain was searing, as if his flesh might literally catch on fire if he touched them. “Yes, I think so,” he ground out.
“So it’s like they’re powered by Kryptonite or it’s being fed into them somehow.” She reached through the bars and started feeling around on the other side of them.
“What... are you... doing?” he grunted, pulling himself to the center of the cage. He wanted so desperately to get away from the source of his pain but, while the center of the cage was the furthest point away from any of the bars, he wasn’t sure the pain was any better. Now it just seemed to be coming at him from all directions.
“I’m looking for the source,” she explained absently, still feeling around. “Lex has to have something feeding the Kryptonite into this cage.” She scoured the outside perimeter of the cage, feeling along all the edges and surfaces. Halfway around the enclosure, she stopped abruptly and looked up.
There was a cable coming down from the ceiling that attached to the top of the cage.
“Do you think you have enough strength to lift me up there?” she asked Clark, pointing at the top of the cage. It was only a few feet above their heads, but out of jumping range. Maybe if she had tennis shoes instead of pumps, and pants instead of a skirt, she might have actually been able to climb up the bars - but in her current situation... no, it wouldn’t be a good idea. If he could lift her just a couple of feet, she could grab the bars above them.
Clark gave her a weak nod. Deep down, he knew there was no way he could do it. He didn’t even think he had the strength to pull himself up from the floor. But he had to try. He had to try for Lois. He had to find a way to get her out of here, get her to safety. Closing his eyes, he took a deep breath and mustered every last ounce of strength he had left. He staggered up from the floor and reached out for her, attempting to hoist her up. But Lois stopped him, waving his hands and arms away.
“Wait,” she said softly. “Just wait a moment. Catch your breath.” She put her arms around him and encouraged him to lean against her. She swayed unsteadily when she felt him relax into her arms. The weight of his body was heavier than she was expecting... and he probably wasn’t even putting his full weight on her. If he couldn’t lift her up there, they were in trouble because there was sure as hell no way she could lift him up.
“Lois,” he murmured into the curve of her neck. “I’m so sorry... about what happened... at your apartment... I...”
“No,” she interrupted him. “We aren’t going to talk about that. It doesn’t matter right now. We have to get out of here – that’s all that matters right now.”
“Is it?” he asked softly.
“Yes.” She pulled away from him to look into his eyes and shook her head softly. “How did you even end up here? I thought you promised that you would stay away? That you would be careful?”
“Like you?” he managed to tease and then let out a raspy cough.
Lois snorted. “You better be glad you’re already hurt,” she threatened, trying her best to give him a small smile. The smile didn’t last long. It melted quickly away and she let out a soft sigh. “Seriously, why did you come here? Didn’t you realize you were walking into a trap?”
Clark pulled his eyes from her probing gaze and glanced down at where their bodies still embraced one another. “Yeah. I guess. I just didn’t know how complex the trap was... I didn’t realize you were under his control, too.”
Lois frowned. “What do you mean? What happened?”
“I think I feel a little stronger, Lois,” he answered her, evading her questions as he pulled away from her. “Let’s see if I can lift...”
“What happened?” she repeated firmly, not relinquishing her hold on him. She knew that she should let it go for now, concentrate on getting out of here, but the reporter in her wouldn’t let her. “How did you end up in here?”
“I thought I could rescue you,” he continued reluctantly. “But when Luthor led me down here to you, I wasn’t expecting...” He broke off, seized by an uncontrollable cough. His legs felt like they wanted to give way beneath him, but Lois was doing her best to keep him standing. After a few seconds the coughing stopped and his breathing became less labored.
Lois gave him an encouraging squeeze. “You weren’t expecting...?”
He swallowed, trying to fight against the urge to cough again and yet not wanting to answer her question. But he knew she would press him until he told her. “Luthor had you under his control,” he continued in barely a whisper. “You told me that you wanted me to celebrate your engagement to Luthor.” He shut his eyes briefly, wishing he could block out that particularly unpleasant memory. “I decided that even if I had to take you against your will, I was going to grab you and fly us out of here...”
“So why didn’t you?” she interrupted, hating herself for pressing him like this when he was clearly hurting but yet, needing to know the answer. “Surely you knew that I...”
“I couldn’t,” he whispered miserably. “You... you...”
“I what?” she asked, biting at her lip. “Cl...” She caught herself and cleared her throat. “Superman, what did I do?”
“You were wearing a Kryptonite necklace,” he answered quietly. The effort just to talk was becoming more excruciating by the second and each sentence he spoke threatened to send him into another coughing fit. “It took me by surprise. I fell down the stairs and when you came to me at the bottom, you... you put it around my neck.” Clark slumped back down to the floor, unable to remain standing any longer.
Lois followed him down to the floor, feeling like someone had stolen the air from her lungs. It was her fault. She had done this to him. She had trapped him like this... hurt him like this.
Her fault.
After a few seconds of wallowing, she pushed the feelings down inside of her. They wouldn’t do anything to help her and besides, this was Lex’s fault. Everything that had happened the past few days was his doing. But she couldn’t dwell on that right now. They had more important things to focus on – like getting out of here.
“So where’s the necklace now?” she asked, needing to fill the silent void with something and not knowing what else to say.
Clark shook his head softly. “I don’t know. It’s probably what’s powering this cage. Luthor must have taken it off of me after I blacked out.”
“You blacked out? From the Kryptonite?”
His face blanched and he looked away from her. “Not exactly.” He could practically feel her eyes boring into him. “Luthor told me that he was going to use me as a bargaining chip to get you to agree to marry him. He was going to take you overseas and keep me locked away,” he explained, once again fighting the urge to cough. “He... He said he was going to use me to break you.”
“What?” she cried shrilly. Clark winced and she gave him an apologetic look.
“Yeah. That was kind of my reaction,” he agreed, “right before I lunged at him.” Lois just gaped at him and he continued, “My attack was short-lived when his fist met my face and the world went black.”
Lois’s eyes darkened. So Lex had hit him. Hit him? No, he had tried to kill him, and by the shape Clark was in now, he had nearly succeeded. She was absolutely appalled by how thoroughly Lex had deceived her. How could she have thought she was in love with him? How could she have not seen who he really was?
He was a monster.
“Lois?” Clark’s soft voice cut into her thoughts. “I’m sorry... I... I can’t lift you up there.” He hung his head, looking away from her. “I don’t think I even have the strength to stand up again.”
Lois swallowed the fear that was rising inside of her and bit back the tears that were threatening to spill forth. She had to get him out of here. If she didn’t, he was going to die.
She would lose him.
No. No, she couldn’t let that happen. There had to be a way. “It’s okay,” she told him softly. “We’ll figure something out. Just lie still.” She got up from the floor and walked back over to the bars, continuing her search of them. After just a few more sweeps of the outside edge, she found what she was looking for.
A latch. A handle.
A lock.
Damn. She had just said to herself the other day that she needed to start carrying a bobby pin on her, just for situations like this. Okay, maybe not like this - she couldn’t possibly have guessed a situation like this - but she had thought it could still be helpful to have one.
Lois started patting the clothes she was wearing. She had to have something on her that she could use to pick that lock. She smiled self-consciously when an idea came to her. Reaching her right hand inside of the sleeve of her left arm, she pulled the bra strap out and then pulled her arm up and through it.
Clark’s eyes went wide. “Lois? What are you doing?”
She reached up with her left hand and pulled her other bra strap out, following the same pattern. “I’m getting us out of here.”
He raised an eyebrow at her and let out a rasping cough before replying, “By stripping?”
She smirked at him as she untucked her blouse from her skirt and reached up her back to undo the clasp on her bra. “In your dreams, Farmboy. I think, maybe, if I can get the underwire out of my bra, I can use it to get us out of here.”
Clark managed a weak smile before turning his head away. Lois shook her head – definitely a Farmboy. She wanted to comment on the smile, but instead she pulled the bra out with a triumphant ‘ha’ and held it up to inspect it. Thank god she’d gone with the underwire bra today.
A grim smile spread across her face. Lex Luthor didn’t realize who he was dealing with.
This wasn’t over yet.
**********
Lois had just gotten Clark clear of the cage and was contemplating how to help him up the stairs, when she heard sounds coming from the other side of the door at the top of the staircase.
No! Lex was coming back. No, they couldn’t get caught now!
She pulled Clark close and whispered into his ear, “I know you’re in pain, but whatever strength you’ve got left, we need it. We’ve got to hide. Someone’s coming.”
Clark pointed towards a dark corner of the room where a bunch of wine kegs were stacked. “There. Go there.” She took him by the arm and they made their way over to the cubbyhole as quickly as they could. Lois lowered Clark to the floor and just as she was about to join him, the door to the room violently flung open.
“Sorry, Superman,” Lex’s voice echoed through the room. “It seems I’m not going to be able to keep you around as long as I thought.” Lois heard an odd metallic clang and then footsteps coming down the stairs. “I’ll just take my pound of flesh and...”
Lex broke off and Lois imagined it was because he had just realized the cage was empty. She forced herself to remain calm and keep her breathing even. He hadn’t found them yet. He didn’t know where they were. And even if he figured it out, she would deal with that when it happened.
An ear-splitting roar suddenly boomed through the room causing Lois to jerk, despite herself.
“No!” Lex bellowed. There was a loud crash and footsteps on the stairs and then the door slammed shut.
“Come on,” Lois whispered, tugging on Clark.
“No, Lois, wait,” he said, pulling his arm free. “I can’t go like this.” He gestured down at what he was wearing. “Stand watch by the door and see if you can find something to barricade it with while I change.”
Lois felt dumbstruck. Their lives were being threatened and he wanted to change his outfit? How could he even change? Where were his clothes?
The pleading look on his face told her that now was not the time to ask the questions that were bouncing around in her head. Clark was right. If they managed to get out of the LexCorp building, he was in no position to fly and he probably shouldn’t be seen dressed as Superman, stumbling weakly down the street or hailing a taxi cab. Besides, if they got caught before they got out of here, it might be better if ‘Superman’ got away.
So if he had a way to ‘change’, then she might as well let him.
“Guess *you* aren’t talented enough to change in front of me?” she teased as she ran towards the stairwell. She glanced up the stairs at the large wooden door that would lead to their freedom.
They had made it this far... if only their luck would hold out.
**********
Lois peered around the corner. The coast was clear. She looked back at Clark and was pleased to note that more color seemed to be coming back to his face. The further away they got from the Kryptonite, the better he seemed to be doing. She mentally shook her head as she watched him finish straightening his tie. When they were out of here and this was over and they were safe, he’d have to tell her where he kept his clothes.
“Okay, Clark. Stick close to me. The doors leading outside are just up ahead of us.” Lois pushed away from the wall and started to round the corner when a voice from behind them stopped her cold.
“And just where do you think you’re going?” Mrs. Cox asked.
Lois turned around and sneered at the woman. “To the ladies room.”
“Where did he come from?” Mrs. Cox asked, gesturing at Clark. “Trying to play hero, are we, Mr. Kent?”
“Clark called the police,” Lois lied. “They’re on their way now. It’s over. Don’t make things worse for yourself. Just let us go.” She mentally crossed her fingers that the woman would buy her bluff.
She didn’t.
Mrs. Cox reached into the purse hanging from her shoulder and pulled out a gun. “No, I think I’ll kill you, instead,” she said, raising the gun and aiming it at them.
“What? No mind control this time?” Lois retorted, trying to think of a way out of this. “You can’t just kill me; I don’t think Lex would appreciate that.”
“Lex?” Mrs. Cox shrieked. “Lex is dead. You killed him.”
The room seemed to turn upside down and Lois grabbed onto Clark to steady herself. “What? What are you talking about?”
“The police are already here, Ms. Lane. They came for him. And rather than face prison time, he launched himself off the top floor of this building.” Her eyes flashed wickedly at Lois. “You drove him to his death. You stole him from me,” she spat. “He took his life and now I’m going to take yours. My last gift to him – sending you to meet him.”
She cocked the gun and aimed it at Lois.
“No!” Clark shouted, wrapping Lois in his arms and turning his back to take the bullet that he knew was coming.
“Clark, no!” Lois cried, struggling in his arms.
The gunshot echoed through the hallway and Lois jerked at the sound. As she felt Clark’s body suddenly tense around her, tears instantly sprung into her eyes and began streaming down her face. “No. No, Clark,” she breathed. She tried to pull free of him, tried to turn around where she could see what was happening.
Another gunshot went off and the sound seemed to pierce her heart.
“NO!” Lois screamed.
“Lois,” Clark said her name softly. “It’s okay. I’m okay,” he assured her gently, slowly relinquishing his hold on her.
“Wh...what?” she mumbled. “How?” She let out a shuddery breath as she turned to face him.
And that’s when she saw him.
Henderson.
He was running towards the now lifeless body of Mrs. Cox that was lying on the floor behind them.
Henderson had saved them.
He had saved Superman.
***********
Lois dropped the newspaper she was holding onto Perry’s desk. He scowled as he read the headline out loud. “Luthor Dead – Superman Exonerated.” He shook his head and muttered something indistinguishable.
“What’s the matter, Chief?” she asked, hiding a smile. “It’s an exclusive. That’s got to make you and the suits upstairs happy.”
“Happy? Oh, sure. I’m ecstatic,” he told her, his voice dripping with sarcasm.
“You should be,” she assured him. “Everything worked out all right in the end. I mean, at least the paper’s safe. I heard the Planet’s gotten offers from a minimum of three other investors who...”
“Yeah, it has,” he conceded, interrupting her. He was still scowling.
“Then what is it?” she probed.
“They’re hiding something, Lois. You know it and I know it. And it had to be something big for them to classify the details like that. Sure, we got the exclusive, but an exclusive of what? Squat, that’s what!” He shook his head in irritation. “‘Details classified due to matters of national security.’ I’d give my pension to be able to print what really happened.” He paused and glanced up at her with a knowing look.
Lois smiled innocently at him. If he only knew.
She hadn’t been willing to accept the fact that Clark’s life had been spared, only to realize that he could never again be Superman because of what had happened.
That idea had been unthinkable to her – and unacceptable.
After listening to Henderson explain why he had come to LexCorp, and after making sure that Clark had a believable excuse to get him safely away from the building, it had taken her hours to debrief Henderson on what had really happened.
Thank god for that gemologist. He had contacted Henderson about the diamond that had been stolen from him. Apparently Mrs. Cox had tried to threaten him into selling the diamond to her. When he had watched the press announcement on TV regarding Lex’s procurement of the Daily Planet, he had recognized Mrs. Cox standing next to Lex. He hadn’t really believed that Lex Luthor himself could have been involved, but he had reported the connection to Henderson anyway.
Henderson had added that report to the information that Lois’s uncle had phoned in for Clark - and then he had taken action.
But even with all of the facts and information at Henderson’s disposal, it had taken Lois several more hours to convince him to help her with a cover-up story.
She could still see the look of shock on his face when she had first asked for his help.
<<<”You know I can’t do that, Lois,” Henderson told her adamantly. “I have to arrest him.”
“What? No. No, you can’t do that. What is he guilty of?” she asked stubbornly.
He cocked a disbelieving eyebrow at her. “He robbed a bank, for starters.”
“Are you certain of that?”
He crossed his arms and frowned at her. “What do you mean?”
She opened her hand and held out the engagement ring to him. “Lex gave me this ring. This is the diamond that was stolen from the vault. I’m sure if you dig deep enough into his financial records, you’ll find the rest of the missing money and assets.”
Henderson nodded his head slowly. “Perhaps. But no matter who has the money, Superman still committed the actual theft and he also wounded those kids at the other bank robbery. He’s a loose cannon.”
“No. That’s not him. You know it’s not, Henderson. Lex had him under mind control...”
Henderson snorted. “Mind control? You’ve been reading too much science fiction lately, Lane...”>>>Only after she had explained to Henderson about the cover-ups she had done to protect Superman, had he understood what had happened. He had finally realized that Superman wasn’t really at fault.
If they wanted to pin the blame on someone, that honor belonged to Lex Luthor, and him alone.
<<<”I can’t believe it,” Henderson told her, shaking his head.
“I know,” she agreed.
“No. I mean... how could you cover all that up, Lane? What about your journalistic integrity?”
“I didn’t lie,” she defended herself. “I only hid certain facts. Facts that, if they had gotten out, other criminals might have tried to use against Superman.”>>>It had taken a lot to convince Henderson that she needed his help, that this information was dangerous and had to be kept hidden, but in the end, he had finally seen reason. If the criminal element knew that Superman was susceptible to something like mind control, every two-bit crook out there would be trying to find a way to get him under their control.
<<<”Well, I’m gonna need the mayor’s help on this one,” Henderson said, a curious smile tugging at the corner of his mouth. “But the mayor owes me one – more than one, actually.”>>>Henderson had saved Superman in more than one way that day. Lois glanced back down at Perry, who was still scowling at the paper he was holding.
“So what do you think really happened, Chief?” she asked nonchalantly.
“I don’t know, Lois,” he huffed. “But somehow I get the feeling that it would be even bigger than if Elvis walked through my door right now, eating a donut.”
And then, as if on cue, Clark walked through Perry’s door... taking a bite out of the glaze donut he was holding.
“What?” Clark asked, giving the appearance of naivety when their heads turned to look at him.
Perry rolled his eyes in disgust and Lois gave Clark a small smile. He had to have been listening, in order to have timed his entrance that perfectly.
**********
Clark and Lois had walked for several blocks in silence, each quietly contemplating the events of the past few days. Each wondering when the other was finally going to say something. Things had been a little awkward between them, but with everything that had been happening, they had just shoved their feelings to the side.
Now, it was over. Lex was dead. Superman’s name had been cleared; the charges had been dropped. And the story had been printed. Case closed. Now they had to face the reality of what had happened.
Clark cleared his throat softly, contemplating how to begin. “It’s a beautiful night out, isn’t it?”
Lois nodded her head at him and let a few seconds of silence pass before she decided to open up the conversation a bit. “Yeah, I bet the view of the city from the air would be amazing.”
Clark immediately stopped walking and turned to face her. “Do you want to see it?” His powers had been coming back gradually, little by little. He thought he was strong enough now that he could take her up, if she wanted him to.
“Not right now,” she told him gently. “Maybe later.”
She was about to start walking again when Clark’s hand came out to grasp her gently by the elbow.
“We need to talk,” he said quietly. “I know you’re mad at me...”
“I’m not mad,” she said simply.
“Yes, you are. I know you’re upset that I lied to you.”
Lois was about to respond when part of her conversation with Henderson flashed through her mind.
<“I didn’t lie... I only hid certain facts...”>That’s what she had told Henderson. She had hid certain facts about Superman. Was that any different than what Clark had done?
Possibly. But, if she was honest with herself, he wasn’t the only one guilty of being duplicitous.
“You didn’t lie,” she told him softly. “You merely hid certain facts about yourself.”
“Yeah, facts that made you believe that I was two different people,” he pointed out. Why was she being so calm? He had been waiting for the explosion to happen, now that she knew he was Superman. He had been dreading the accusations, the hurt... the anger. Only now, it didn’t seem like it was going to come.
“Well, yes, there is that,” she agreed, her face unreadable.
Clark shifted uneasily on his feet. He had known that this wasn’t going to be easy, but until now, he hadn’t realized it was going to be so hard.
“Please,” he pleaded. “Tell me what you want me to do. Tell me where I stand with you. I can’t go on like this,” he told her, releasing a breath he didn’t know he’d been holding. “I know what I did to you was horrible, unimaginable. If I’ve ruined things between us, if we can’t ever go back to the way things were before, please... tell me.”
Unimaginable.
Lois smiled softly at him. “Yes, what you did was ‘unimaginable’, but not unforgivable. I would have never expected you or Superman to behave the way you did that night.” She shook her head as she continued, “But that’s the thing, *that* wasn’t *you*.”
Clark looked like he wanted to interject, but she held up a hand to stop him. “That was no more your fault than almost killing you was my fault.”
He looked at her in shock, opening and closing his mouth a couple of times but remaining silent.
“You know I’m right, Clark,” she continued determinedly before he could find his voice. “If Lex had finished what he started, you’d be dead right now, and that would be partly on me.” She reached out and took his hands in hers. “Can you imagine how that makes me feel? Can you imagine the guilt I would have carried with me? The guilt I already feel over the pain you endured?”
“But you didn’t know... you weren’t in control of...”
“And neither were you,” she reminded him. “We can’t let what Luthor did to us, or used us to do to each other, keep us from being together. If we do, then he wins.”
A look of disgust washed over Clark’s face. “I hadn’t thought about it quite like that.”
Lois smiled at him and looked up into the dark sky above them. “I think maybe I’m ready for that flight now.”
His face split into a wide grin and he glanced around to see if anyone was watching. Taking hold of her hand, he led them into an alley where he could make a quick change.
Lois stood wide-eyed, her mouth parted slightly in amazement as Clark backed away from her and spun out of his clothes and into his Suit.
“Wow,” she breathed.
He flashed her a smile that arced through her, igniting every nerve ending in her body. It was a smile that she hadn’t seen in awhile, and she hadn’t realized until just then how much she had missed it... how much she wanted to see it.
“Ready?” he asked softly, extending his hand to her.
“Mmm-hmm.” As she accepted his hand, he pulled her into his arms and lifted them off the ground in one smooth motion.
And then they were flying.
They were lifting higher and higher into the cool night sky. The damp air made her want to nestle even closer against his warm body, but the amazing view beneath them called out to her. People were milling around and vehicles were passing beneath them, a strangely orchestrated dance that moved from one end of the city to the other. Lights in houses and apartment buildings twinkled on and off as people moved about hurriedly inside of them.
Then as they rose even higher into the air, she could no longer make out individual people or cars. It all began to blend together in a beautiful symphony of light and movement. It was breathtaking.
Clark watched Lois’s face delight as she took in the view below them. He had flown with her a few times as Superman – but never like this. He was always flying her away from some catastrophe... rescuing her from probable death.
This was the first time he had flown with her since she had learned of his secret. She wasn’t flying with Superman. She was flying with Clark.
Gazing at her, he realized that she had a far-off look on her face, like she was thinking about something. He gave her a gentle squeeze. “What is it?”
“Hmmm? Oh, I was just thinking.”
“About what?” he prompted.
If it wasn’t so dark out, he would have sworn she was blushing. As it was, he couldn’t really tell. But by the sweet smile she had on her face, he was willing to bet he was right.
“What?” he asked again.
“I was thinking about something that someone said to me about Superman acting out the seven sins,” she admitted, biting her bottom lip.
Clark flinched. He didn’t really want to think about that again. But he couldn’t help it, his curiosity was piqued. “What about it?”
“Well... it did seem like that’s what Lex was doing – having you act out the seven sins,” she said hesitantly and then paused before continuing, “Who knows what his purpose was or what the point of all of it was. Maybe he was trying to discredit you to the world, like he had tried to with me?” She got quiet again, but then gave him a crooked grin. “But, I can’t help thinking... didn’t you miss one?”
“Miss one?” Where was she going with this?
“If I’m not mistaken, isn’t ‘gluttony’ one of the seven sins?” she explained. “I didn’t seen you hitting any all-you-can-eat buffets the past couple of days.” She flashed him a teasing smile. They had a long road ahead of them, but they were going to have to learn to laugh again and let go of what had happened if they wanted to move past it and not obsess over it.
Clark returned her smile and shook his head softly. “What if ‘gluttony’ isn’t about food?”
Lois furrowed her eyebrows in bemusement. “What do you mean?”
“Well, I’ve never been able to get enough of you,” he admitted softly. This time her blush was deep enough that he could make it out clearly.
“And let’s hope you never will.”
***********
The End.
A huge thank you goes out to my two awesome beta readers - Sue and Lara - thank you both so much. You know I could have never done this without you guys and the story would have definitely suffered. Sue - thank you for letting me borrow your idea about using the underwire from Lois's bra to pick the lock. Totally awesome and I think you should definitely find a way to work it into one of your fics... I'm sure you could work magic with it. <wink>
I also need to give a thank you to both Laura S and LabRat for providing me the inspiration to write this story to begin with. Laura, that wallpaper was too awesome and totally droolworthy. And Labby, I'll still be waiting to read that story some day... complete with sheep. LOL. Thank you both.
And of course a thank you to the wonderful FoLCs out there who left me such encouraging and amazing fdk. I hope you enjoyed yourselves... I know I did.
Lastly, I'm sad to say that this may be my last fic... at least for a while (it's hard to stay away from this place, it's addictive). My muses have sort of become preoccupied lately and RL keeps encroaching on my time. But never fear... I have several unfinished stories on my hard drive... and I'm sure my muses will come back one day to finish them... if anyone still wants to read them when I finally manage to get them done - ugh.
Anyway, thank you all so much! And I'll see you around!
P.S. - I'm leaving for Cancun, Mexico 1st thing Saturday... so I may not have a chance to respond to any fdk until I get back. C-ya!
-- DJ
